OK, Poli and Senator have inspired me to finally jump into a RL Football dynasty with the Freshman Team I coach at Westview HS here in Phoenix. This is my 21st year coaching, 12 in Pop Warner, 9 in High School. (I was also offered a Junior College job 3 years back but did not have the time to commit.)
In fact, time is why I asked to be moved back down to Freshman from Varsity 2 years ago. I don't teach, so it is hard being off Campus to give the full commitment required as a varsity coach and truth be known, I enjoy the Freshman level more anyway. I see it as a unique transition period, where the kids really still have a youthful exuberance for the game and are still generally quite raw skill wise, so the opportunity to teach and mentor is much greater. Plus I just have a soft spot for the "knucklehead" freshmen
Anyway, on to the team. We came to Westview as a staff 6 years ago and now have a pretty solid program in place. Last year we made the state 5A II finals for the first time in school history, falling to our Region rival Centennial 26-7 at Cardinal Stadium. A disappointment to be sure, but still something we are very proud of as a program. We run the Wing-T program wide and the defense varies a bit at each level. On the frosh we will run a base 4-4 cover 3.
We had 90 kids come out for the Frosh team this year and have only lost 4 after a week of conditioning and 2 weeks of practice. This past week was the first in full pads and really the beginning of the process of "filtering" the depth chart, as well as any final position moves. We have our traditional program scrimmage/barbeque tomorrow which will determine our initial depth chart as we prepare for our first opponent on September 3rd.
I coordinate the Offense and coach Quarterbacks and Linebackers as well. Our D-coordinator coaches the line on both sides of the ball, we also have a coach that handles the RB's, DB's and coordinates special teams, as well as a coach that handles receivers and helps me with the Linebackers and on special teams too. With a little background in place, let's look at the positions. Though we have nearly 90 kids, I will just go over the top three as they stand now at each position (this is always subject to change as we encourage competition and you need to work to hold your job) Also, as starting jobs have not yet been won for most positions, the order I list the players has no bearing at this point. We have a lot of talent again this year and in most cases I am comfortable with any of the three listed at a position seeing the field at this time.
Quarterbacks
Louis G
Jacob S
Zach R
A solid group that can all play if needed. Louis is the best athlete and also has the best mechanics, but Jacob may have the offense down better at this point, and can certainly move the team. Zach is a mix of both and very solid, just slightly behind the top two. The scrimmage tomorrow will go a long way in determining who starts, though all three could see action in the opener if things go well. I really want to get a look at all 3 in "battle" if you will and then define roles more from there.
Tailbacks
Shayne M
Tywon S
Guillermo N
Perfect Wing-T tailbacks here and all three have picked up the offense well. Shayne and Guillermo have blazing speed, but distinctly different styles. Shayne has superb agility and loses barely any speed on his cuts. Guillermo is more of a slasher and runs a bit high for my liking right now, but has great acceleration and turns it on when he finds the seam. Tywon has both qualities and though not quite as fast as the other two, still has plenty of speed and solid instincts. Shayne is the most complete, but we lose very little with the other two and all three can take it house at any time. I have the enviable dilemma here of having three solid options. We also have a couple of others who are better than average below these guys.
Fullbacks
Jamal D
Dylan U
Jesus G
There are actually 4 kids here who are serviceable, which is important as we rely heavily on this position in our offense. As those familiar with the Wing-T know the Fullback is a weapon, not just a blocker. Jamal is a manchild in the making, speed, power, but very raw. In our program kids learn a position on both sides of the ball, but I will limit most of his reps to offense to develop him faster. Dylan and Jesus are both hard runners with above average speed and are seasoned players. They are probably the two best inside linebackers as well at the moment, so reps here will be limited. We do play kids on both sides of the ball when needed, but with almost 90 players out we have more than enough talent to avoid starting anyone both ways.
Wingbacks
Jamal K
James O
Chuks A
Another spot where we really have 4 solid kids, but the 4th will likely play Free safety before getting meaningful reps here. This is a hybrid of the TB and FB positions. You need to be a solid blocker to make our strong side sweep effective as well as being able to chip in 5-8 carries a game to keep the defense honest to the weakside. All three guys can get the down block for us and are capable of running the ball, though they have all had some issues grasping the theory of the Wing-T sweep, which is a cutback sweep and not a beat everyone to the sideline type of play that they seem to think it is. This job is wide open between the top 4 right now, but I am more than confident that whoever emerges will give us exactly what we need from this position.
Offensive Line
Quick Tackle - Ryan F, Daniel A, Chris P
Quick Guard - Joseph O, Jonathon A, Matthew F
Center - Fredrick F, Josiah B, Quinten C
Strong Guard - Mario R, David D, Dayne G
Strong Tackle - Damien C, Cody R, Andrew C
Tight End - Jesse M, Antonio A, Malik T
I spend all of indivdual and group time with the skill kids and pretty much leave the O-Line Coach alone here in setting the depth chart initially. He has been with us the entire time at this school and does a great job with the line. I really only focus here during team offensive periods and will give him feedback based on things I see there. We have 30 linemen on this squad so it is tough to get maximum reps everyday and because of that we are a little behind where we usually are....but that is a GOOD thing in this case as it will give lots of kids a chance to develop. Right now my biggest here concern is with getting the guards quicker on their pulls, which is mostly because they are still thinking too much. We have some athletic kids at guard and they will be fine once it becomes instinctive. Thinking and not reacting costs you 1-2 steps on the football field and that is the difference between a big play and a 3 yard loss in a lot of cases, so as we pare the line down, the kids identified as being able to get into the game rotation will get most of the reps. (We rotate when talent permits to keep our linemen fresh)
Some kids that stand out here. Damien C is as intense as any kid I have seen on the frosh level and he will do a wonderful job crushing opposing D-linemen on the downblock this year. Jessie M is dinged up right now, but has amazing hands and moves real well for a bigger kid. We like to throw to the TE and he will be a load to bring down in space. Ryan is probably our most athletic down lineman and is a sharp kid as well and Mario is looking to be the closest to getting completely comfortable at guard. He pulls well, we just need to adjust his blocking paths a bit.
Split Ends
Robert M
Joseph M
Joseph K
Giovanni B
DeAndre S
Anthony R
D Jones
Sorry to all you fans of the spread offense, but we do not air it out. For a split end with us, a good year is 6-10 catches. That said we have some kids here we can throw to and a couple of legit deep threats, most notably DeAndre and Anthony. DeAndre came out late, but has speed and exceptional hands and once he catches up to the others will be good. Anthony was one of only 8 freshmen players invited to our out of state camp in July and broke his wrist there. He should be back for game 2 and will contribute immediately. The others on this list are solid possession receivers who can all help when called upon, which will be usually to block a CB or S, but we will still throw them a bone here and there.
I will post a preview of the Defense tomorrow before I leave for our program scrimmage. Our part in the scrimmage will be as follows. Our current 3's and 4's on Offense and Defense go against each other for 10 plays. Then our 2's do the same. Then our #1 Offense goes against the #2 JV Defense for 10 plays and finally the #1 JV Offense goes against our #1 Defense for 10 plays. As you can see with only 60 plays, it will be tough to get all 80+ eligible kids in, but we will do our best. We always scrimmage the JV's with our best kids (at this time) and always set the goal of being the first Freshmen team to beat the JV (We never have, but you need a goal) This year, as always will be a tall order as our Frosh went 8-1 last year and will be very formidible, despite a few of the key kids from that team now being up on Varsity. We do have a very talented group and if they stay focused and humble (our jobs as coaches to keep them that way) they could be the best frosh class in the 6 years we have been at this school. Tomorrow will be a good yardstick of where we are.
